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And He will judge and forgive all the good and the evil, the wise and the meek... And when He has done with all of them, then He will summon us. "You too come forth," He will say. "Come forth, ye drunkards, come forth, ye weak ones, come forth ye children of shame!" And we shall all come forth, without shame and shall stand before Him. And He will say unto us: "Ye are swine, made in the image of the Beast and with his mark: but come ye also!" And the wise ones and those of understanding will say, "O Lord, why dost Thou receive these men?" And He will say: "This is why I receive them, O ye wise, this is why I receive them, O ye of understanding, that not one of them beleived himself to be worthy of this." And He will hold out his hands to us and we shall fall down before Him and we shall weep... and we shall understand all things. Then we shall understand all!... Lord, Thy kingdom come!"
Dostoevsky, Crime & Punishment

Young men thrash themselves with knives attached to a chain. I had to step back for fear of being hit accidentally but got blood on me anyway. In the near darkness one can barely see blood flowing down backs and across the road, but after a while one can smell the sheer quantity of it.

The emotions and gore of Muharram turn many people away and reinforce stereotypes about Islam. Being a non-Muslim I was warned against going out into the streets to shoot among people thought of as religious fanatics, but it is only through contact and understanding of different cultures that mutual respect, and peace, can be earned.

I came home blood-splattered, but unharmed.

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